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Police Structure

When it comes to law enforcement at the federal there are twenty one agencies that deal with issues of law enforcement. The FBI is one of these agencies, which was established in 1908. It is currently the main investigative agency of the Federal Government. The FBI is one of the agencies that is organized and run under the Department of Justice. The responsibility of the FBI is to investigate any crimes that happen across state lines as well as violation of federal criminal law. Some of the particular offenses that they investigate are civil rights violations, kidnapping, auto thefts and internal security issues. The FBI will also assist local law enforcement with their investigations as well. So when it comes to their role as it applies to the law. The law enforcement powers that the FBI as well as the other federal agencies have is to enforce any violations of current federal laws and mandates, but also have the power to enforce this over the entire United States. When it comes to state law enforcement most states have established their own state police agencies such as the Highway Patrol or State Trooper which is run under the rules of the state government. The primary purpose of establishing these state law enforcement agencies is to allow a policing agency to work throughout the entire state without the restrictions of city or county boundaries. The authority of these state police body’s are to make arrests, execute search warrants, conduct criminal investigations and enforce traffic laws on state and federal highways as well as investigate traffic accidents. Then there are the policing agencies that represent the greatest number of police officers. Throughout the United States these city police officers who work in large and medium size municipalities are the ones in charge of handling the investigation of such crimes as burglaries, robberies, assaults, and rapes as well as patrol all local streets and highways going through the city. The boundaries of...

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The United States uses police officers on three different levels to deal with citizens that violate the laws. The local, state, and federal agencies operate on different levels. Maintaining order and service functions, purpose of policing is to do investigation of suspected criminal activity and refer criminals to the American court. Police is needed to help maintain peace and order within the United States. Many critics feel that the policing is unorganized and nonfunctional. The police are able to do their job and help other agencies control the public. The local, state, and federal are able to aid each one if they need the extra help.
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The local law enforcement agency it the first response to emergencies and other issues that relate to public safety. They are also involved with the protection of facilities and infrastructure. Local law enforcement agencies operate some correctional facilities on the local level. The police functions deal with order maintenance, law enforcement, and service. The order maintenance refers to keeping the peace or preventing people from disturbing others. This can involve someone throwing a party and the music is too loud. The neighbors complain and call the local police to handle the situation. Law enforcement...

...Police Department
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...Running head: POLICE DEPARTMENT ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
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xxxxxx
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Police Department Roles and Functions
Law enforcement agencies range from local counties all the way up to state and federal levels. Communities are dependent of these agencies to conduct and perform many different roles and functions. All policing agencies perform the same basic duties and responsibilities, which are, maintain law and order, provide community assistance, and investigate crimes. There are agencies that function in a specific jurisdictions or provides a specialized function in a specific jurisdiction. All departments work together to protect citizens, prevent crime, and solve crimes within their community.
* What are the principal roles and functions of police organizations and their role as it applies to the law?
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POLICE FRAGMENTATION
Police Fragmentation
The Nature of Policing in the United States will constantly change based on certain events that happen. The government will always look for ways to adjust, trying to make policing more efficient, fair, and effective. Unlike policing in other countries, the structure of policing in the United States is extremely fragmented. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are currently 21,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. In different levels of the government, there are thousands of different agencies that are responsible for specific tasks. Due to a high amount of different law enforcement agencies, it will always raise a concern on “what works” and “what does not work”.
In recent years, the structure of American policing has dramatically changed. In today’s society crimes such as drugs, murders, rapes and cyber crimes are at an all time high and much care and respect has to be given to the chain of command. From 1980 to now law enforcement agencies have had to reform and reconstruct how day to day business is conducted. There must be clear and concise lines drawn as to who is in the chain of command so that proper actions can be taken when needed. Heightened awareness of new era crimes has drastically evolved in the last thirty years, factors...

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...Police Functions
Examine the various perspectives of the policing functions from the local, state, and federal organizational levels.
Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) not only operate across the entire nation, but the agency also has agents serving abroad. In addition to this, the FBI is not a police agency, but an agency with jurisdiction to investigate any and all matters in which the United States is, or maybe an interested party (The Scope of Present Federal Activity, 1968). The Federal Bureau of Investigation limits its jurisdiction to laws pertaining to federal statues, including all federal statues not primarily assigned to other agencies. These include statues dealing with espionage, sabotage, treason, civil rights violation, the assault and murder of federal law enforcement officers, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, mail fraud, federally insured banks, and interstate transportation of stolen vehicles, and property (Hill, 1999).
In addition to these laws, some federal agencies offer helpful services to other local police agencies, including use of its vast fingerprint file, and a sophisticated crime laboratory that aids local police in testing and identifying evidence, such as hair, fiber, drugs, blood, and tire tracks. The FBI’s National Crime Information Center is a computerized network linked to local police departments by...

...The criminal justice system has many components that make up its system. This paper will explore the historical development of police agencies and their jurisdiction, while analyzing their roles in contemporary society. It will describe the main types of law enforcement agencies, including local, state, and federal agencies and their components.
Historical Development of Police Agencies
Historically, policing in America mimicked that of the English. American ideas expanded on the English way of policing, to start an era of ever evolving police agencies. In the beginning policing was considered the civic duty of members of a community (Schmalleger, 2009). These “drafted” officers were not paid or trained. Appointed Sheriff’s were motivated by money, and lost focus on enforcing the law. Policing was considered reactive in nature (Schmalleger, 2009). This began to change as did society, industrialism and urbanization, brought with it a rise in crime, causing police to shift towards a more proactive approach to law enforcement (Schmalleger, 2009).
In the 1800’s new technologies began another change with better response times and communications. The 20th century brought even more technologies which continue to aid law enforcement today. This era also brought to the attention of agencies that there was a lack of cooperation between police and communities and community policing with more...

...Development of Police Agencies
CJA/204
August 8, 2011
Abstract
Historically, policing in America mimicked that of the English. American ideas expanded on the English way of policing, to start an era of ever evolving police agencies. In the beginning policing was considered the civic duty of members of a community. These “drafted” officers were not paid or trained. Appointed Sheriff’s were motivated by money, and lost focus on enforcing the law. Policing was considered reactive in nature. This began to change as did society, industrialism and urbanization, brought with it a rise in crime, causing police to shift towards a more proactive approach to law enforcement. In the 1800’s new technologies began another change with better response times and communications. The 20th century brought even more technologies which continue to aid law enforcement today. This era also brought to the attention of agencies that there was a lack of cooperation between police and communities and community policing with more of a service attitude began to emerge. In the 21st century we are faced with the challenges of terrorist and we call on the local state and federal agencies to work together to counter these threats.
Historical Development of Police Agencies
Today’s police agencies have evolved since the early 1600’s to become a highly organized group that strives for crime prevention,...